Lost & Found
by BlackSclera
Summary: He once woke up in a coffin, and saves the world. Tsuna thought that was the end of that. But then it happens again and things are different from the way they were before. Gokudera wasn't the first person he sees, and Reborn was nowhere to be found.
1. Chapter 2

_Ah,_ he thinks, feeling a little numb and just a tad bit exasperated because there was only so many times the world can pull the same joke on him, _I think… I know what this is._

He didn't even have to think twice. It was pretty obvious from the way he was arranged in the tight enclosed space that didn't budge at all even with a slight nudge of his knee. He could barely move and judging from how difficult it was getting to breathe, he didn't have much time before he wouldn't be able to move at all. Whoever made this one was surprisingly persistent on sealing him in shut, apparently.

Attempting to even out his breathing and briefly closing his eyes to gather his composure, he listened, letting his revered intuition surface unhindered in the back of his mind. He mostly didn't rely on this particularly convenient attribute handed down to him by his ancestors but with all things considered, he figured it wouldn't hurt to take precautions. Most especially when he was vulnerable as he currently was.

He inhales sharply and holds his breath.

The first thing he picks up on is the muted silence. The second thing he picks up on is-

 _A voice?_ He blinked at the thought before frowning slightly. _That_ was new.

He pressed his palms flat against the surface of whatever he was sealed into, the surface cold against the skin of his hands, and he pushed with his knees because wherever he was didn't give him much room for movement. His eyebrows furrowed when it still didn't budge. He let his hands wander, searching for anything that would get the thing to open but with the small space and the way his breathing was getting positively difficult to maintain at an even pace, he thought that at this point, perhaps the only option was to make an exit for himself. It was a concept that was taught to him in reverse, such that whenever he was in dire need of an entrance, he should simply make one for himself instead of letting the vulnerability get to him in the middle of a dangerous battle.

Gritting his teeth, he released a short burst of Sky Flames and forcibly bit down on the agonized groan that tried to slip past his lips. Channelling flames barehanded was something he was trying to accomplish in order to eradicate one major weakness that Reborn just _loved_ to rub in his face back in the headquarters and back in wherever he- kind of belonged. Wearing the gloves took time and the few seconds it takes to wear it might as well be just enough for someone to pull the trigger. Sure, he made it a habit to wear them whenever he went out but the remedy was merely temporary. He was pretty much open to attacks and assassination the rest of the time he chooses not to wear them, which, against his Guardian's wishes, was pretty much most of the time.

 _His Guardians_ , he repeated in his mind, breath catching. _Where are they? Are they safe? Are we separated again?_

"..it. What the _hell_ was that-?"

Tsuna froze.

Above him, the wall that he was pushing against had exploded outwardly in a shower of soil - so he _had_ been right; he was underneath the ground - and metal scraps which had him realizing that it wasn't a coffin he was in as much as it was a narrow container meant to simply and slowly kill whoever was unfortunate enough to be bound within. Some bits of soil hit his cheek and his hands suffered mild burns from the miniature explosion, and he could breathe a little easier without being confined. He could and he thinks he _should_ but-

He exhales shakily instead as if he's got more air to spare than it seems. "... _What_ -?"

And he flinched, hard and completely unbidden for, when he speaks and hears a voice that wasn't his own.

 _Oh shit._ His eyes widened. _This didn't happen last time, either._

"Are you alright?" Someone asked and he quickly threw himself upwards from the sunken hole he was in, desperate to get away, backing a few steps and regarding the two unmistakable _children_ with a horrified stare.

There was no need for him to think twice, just as he had when he awoke in that container. The blue strands of hair obstructing his eyes, the unnaturally pale skin of his - _small_ , like a _child's_ \- hands, the incredulous amount of worry the children were exuding from their mere stares.

 _This can't be happening,_ he tries to tell himself, only succeeding with just making it sound unquestionably truer than it already is, _This can't be happening, this is impossible, this- why am I even- oh my God-_

"Mukuro-san?" One of the two hesitantly calls, eyes narrowed in concern, and Tsuna _winces_ like he's just been impaled with a lamppost through his gut.

It _was_ happening, in spite of all the reasons why it couldn't and shouldn't.

It wasn't likely, but it wasn't impossible.

And it was fucking happening.

He was in Rokudo Mukuro's body, with miniature versions of Chikusa Kakimoto and Ken Joshima standing before him, buried underneath the ground in a place that reeked of death just two minutes ago.


	2. Chapter 3

He's heard the story, ironically right before Mukuro had been taken away by the Vindice who, at the time, he knew nothing about. He's heard of it but hadn't understood it, and now-

-Now, Tsuna _does_.

There were bruises, neither small nor light, remarkably easy to see on their pale skin and thinned limbs which looked all too frail, hinting at probable malnutrition, and then there were scars and cuts, looking either too deep or too large, littering their bodies in something like a gruesome version of a painting with disruptive splatters of red and blue. Their torn clothing barely covered anything and that didn't help to hide whatever else he wouldn't have seen, had they been properly clothed. The numerous small marks on the front of their arms - marks that Tsuna knew came from needles, marks that confirmed half of what Tsuna has come to realize, marks that shouldn't be on _anybody,_ what more of actual children no older than 10 like Ken and Chikusa - didn't bypass his scrutinization either.

He closes his eyes, feeling bile rise to his throat. This was sick, _wrong, because how could they-_

There was the sound of muted footsteps against the carpeted floor, growing louder and more noticeable behind the closed doors of wherever Tsuna was in, and his intuition _burns_ , licking a fiery line of hot rage against the back of his mind.

"...gone, gone, _gone_ , why can't these worthless pigs sit still? They have no use, _no use, I tell you,_ and yet they think they have the right to do as they please in our home when they are the shame, the trash of this family- they are a disgrace! An embarrassment!"

Chikusa startles violently from where he stands and Ken raises his hand, as if to grip Chikusa's arm and _run_ for it, then balled it tightly into a fist and resolutely kept it at his side as he turned his back to face the door behind them and growled.

Blank indigo eyes turn to him. Wary. _Resigned._

And Tsuna understands.

Whatever injuries they had on themselves weren't just from experimentation.

They were - _he chokes through the haze of disgust and righteous outrage -_ being _abused_.

The door was slammed open and from the outside emerged an aged man with a cane in hand, flanked by two men clad in black suits who looked weary with age and desperation, their emotionless eyes tired. Tsuna would like to think he understands what it was like to be in their place. He understands the pain of sleepless nights and prioritizing what has to be done by morning, the pressure crushing him until even _he_ doesn't have the time to get himself together and _breathe_ , after all. He understands, he thinks.

But then he sees Chikusa and Ken, and he thinks, _no, he doesn't._

"Oh? Oh, _oh_ ," the man with the cane murmured hopefully, eyes gleaming brightly with an unsettling light, his angry scowl quickly morphing into a pleased yet deranged grin. "He's out," he says and turns to the man beside him, and it was only then that Tsuna notices the white lab coat he wore, "He's _out, he broke free!_ Was it a success? Was it? _Was it_?" And then he swings his cane around, laughing joyfully. "The **Six Paths of Reincarnation**! Ah, with this, we can, Estraneo can once again rise! They can't ridicule us. They can't. Not again. Not with the Six Paths of Reincarnation within our grasps! They will recognize us, realize our greatness once more!"

Ken visibly shudders, his scowl fading along with the forced and straining bravado. He takes one step back, closer to Chikusa whose face had gone deathly pale, and he looks so fucking small, glancing fearfully between the two men who noticed their presence within a room they undoubtedly shouldn't have been in.

Tsuna feels his spine snap straight and his mind _clears._

The Six Paths of Reincarnation, he repeats silently to himself. Was this how they intend to rise up from the ashes of their former glory? By sacrificing children to be the subject of their experimentation and claiming to have the right to the said ascension?

And then he remembers.

Upon the manifestation of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, the entirety of Estraneo was singlehandedly eliminated by none other than Mukuro himself.

Now, with that power within his hands, it was Tsuna's choice to make and a responsibility of his to bear.

He looks at Chikusa and Ken, their eyes wide with fear. Then he looks at the three men, sees desperation glimmering within their wild eyes, and he takes a deep breath, understanding that they were beyond salvation. Even if he _had_ managed to make several psychopathic murderers change their ways for the better in the past (or in this case, the probable future), these men were different. They had resorted to using children as guinea pigs, didn't care as long as they were able to regain their reputation and revered stance in the underworld, didn't care about _anything_ as long as they got what they wanted. Mukuro might have done the right thing. They were people descending into a path of self-destruction from the very start, as Mafiosi, and as men who dared to toy with the lives of actual people.

"This is wonderful," the man elatedly laughs as he hastens to walk in front of him and grip his chin, sickening wonder within his eyes, "Wonderful, _wonderful_."

Tsuna doesn't mind, thinks that he should be able to endure a bit of manhandling to drag this out as long as he possibly could even if he didn't have much time in his hands, and for not once in his life, doubts himself. Estraneo could still redeem themselves under different men. They could still change their ways and own their reputation through a different way, like Kokuyo's had in due time. Wherein they initially ran rampant doing as they pleased but then gradually learned to settle as who they are and who they were deprived of being. Students. Teenagers, _Children._ It wasn't an impossible idea. He doesn't have much confidence that he could pull it off but it could happen, and that was what mattered, what _matters_ most of the time.

"Ken," he hears Chikusa whisper. " _Calm down._ "

"But they're-"

"We _can't_ do anything, Ken."

"Mukuro-san-"

"I know!" Chikusa snaps in a rough reminder of how aggravatingly powerless they were in the face of two armed men and an insane man and Ken flinches. "I _know_. But they're stronger."

"You damned - cursed - _rats_ ," the man snarls and the hand gripping his chin falls away to slip underneath his lab coat, "Shut up, shut up, shut _up_! I'm talking to the savior of this family, can't you see?" Tsuna's blood freezes at the sight of the gun within his grasp when it emerges once more for their eyes to see. "You dare defy the man who gave you a second chance to redeem yourselves and prove yourselves worthy. Is this how you repay me? By disrespecting me? Is that it? _Ah_ ," he chuckles breathily, waving the gun precariously as he turns to face them completely, leaving Tsuna the perfect opportunity to-

-to _what?_ To subdue him? To knock him unconscious? To run away? _To kill him_?

He grits his teeth and glances wildly around himself, taking in the metallic rectangular container he was locked in buried underneath the ground, the examination tables that looked less than sanitary with several medical equipments in a similar state, the splatters of blood which he was sickened to assume might be from the children who met their ends on that very same table... What was the _right_ thing to do in this situation?

He wished Reborn was here to give him the push he needed as he always did.

"Or perhaps, since you've no more use for me, you want to be disposed of right here, right _now_?" He aims the gun in their general direction, seeming to switch his aim from each child and back with an enthusiasm that shouldn't be present in the matter of pointing weapons at children. "Curious, curious. Truly a curious little thing you worthless ants are!"

 _Think, think, think- what do I do?_ And how ironic that he hasn't heard himself repeat the same pathetic words as he always had when he was 14 for years until now. _Do I save Ken and Chikusa? Stupid, of course you do. But then what? Do I repeat the past? The future? Or do I- do we run away and find Chrome- Chrome. The others. Everyone. Where are they? No, focus, Tsuna, focus. If- if we run away, where do we go? Nobody will trust us. We came from Estraneo and the Mafia isn't so kind to be considerate with a bunch of kids. They tried to imprison Fuuta, and sent Lambo to be assassinated while I-pin was tasked to do the assassination. What do I do? What-_

But Tsuna didn't have much time and he was proven so when the man's finger curled around the trigger, and-

- _pulled_.


End file.
